• BradleyUffner@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      They only “use it” to transfer the funds. Once they have it, they cash it in. No criminal is keeping it in crypto form. They use it the same way they use Apple gift cards.

      • Victoria Antoinette @lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        tally sticks were debt tokens. people used them as money out of convenience, and would exchange them for cash if it was possible.

        • BradleyUffner@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          An easy way to tell if it’s “real” money or not is to see if goods are ever priced directly in it, where it isn’t just directly indexed to the exchange rate of an established currency.

          Hint: Even places that accept crypto payments don’t do this. The crypto price fluctuates based on the moment by moment exchange rate to the local currency.

          • Victoria Antoinette @lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            tally sticks denoted debt in Britain, and were used directly as money out of convenience, but they were themselves denoted in roman currency iirc.

            • Rekorse@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              5 months ago

              Can I ask what the point of arguing semantics here is?

              Maybe you have put in the effort to figure out all the avenues to use bitcoin to pay for things, but its not easy and you sound more like a drug addict scrounging for metal and bottles, and then wondering why noone else is interested in your hustle.

              Why do you care if people call bitcoin real or not anyways? For most people its not real, for you I guess it is, does that make sense?

              • Victoria Antoinette @lemmy.world
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                5 months ago

                if someone is making a semantic argument it’s those who won’t accept that Bitcoin is money as surely as any other form of money we have ever used.

                • Rekorse@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  5 months ago

                  What’s the difference between something having monetary value and it being currency then?

                  I dont see the difference between the bitcoin I could buy drugs with online, and the ps2 I trade my weed dealer 15 years ago for drugs.

                  I dont understand what greater point there is to be had here besides, “well technically anything is currency”.

          • Victoria Antoinette @lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            sumerians denoted everything in silver shekels but trade was done will all manner of commodities, including barley grains. your theory of money sounds like it comes from the Adam Smith cult.

            • hark@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              Are barley grains a currency? I’m not understanding your argument here. In a practical sense, cryptocurrencies are far too volatile to use as a currency and the “stable” coins are tied to things like the US dollar. Well, I should say allegedly tied because “stable” coins like tether haven’t been audited to actually prove it’s tied to the underlying.

    • bc93@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Money refers to some token which is commonly accepted as a form of payment for goods and services and for the repayment of debts. In some contexts - dark web marketplaces, for example - certain cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Monero are money. In the context of the physical world, generally cryptocurrency isn’t considered to be money, but rather a security - a tradable financial asset, but not a form of directly usable money - the asset has to be exchanged for e.g. USD to be spent.

      In this way, cryptocurrency is a bit like WoW gold. I can’t pay for my rent with it, and I can’t really buy any physical property with it, so it’s not money in that context, but in Azeroth, it’s money. I might be able to exchange my digital asset for real money or physical assets, but only in black markets.

      Hope this helps

      • Tja@programming.dev
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        5 months ago

        I mean, the same can be said for Norwegian Kroner (assuming you’re not in Norway) and nobody doubts that it is money. I can’t pay my rent with it, or buy bread with it, I need to exchange it for “real money” (Euro for me) but it is real money.

        • bc93@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Yeah, that’s what I was trying to explain - NOK is money, but only in Norwegian contexts. Runescape gold is money in a Runescape context. Bitcoin is money in the context of dark web marketplaces. The more contexts that some asset is considered to be money, the more widely recognised that asset is as a “real” money. If cryptocurrency becomes more commonly accepted as a medium of exchange, then it will more broadly be recognised as money. But as it stands, for most people in most contexts, cryptocurrencies are not money. I hope that makes sense!

        • bc93@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Dude, if it’s newsworthy then it’s not a common occurrence. And no, many landlords do not accept crypto lol.

          • Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            You previously said buying property can’t be done. Now you’ve shifted to “not common”.

            https://www.muralpay.com/blog/how-to-use-stablecoins-in-your-daily-life

            How to use Stablecoins to Pay Rent While direct payment of rent in digital dollars might not be mainstream yet, Rent.App allows its users to pay their rent in USDC or USDT with no fees. By creating or connecting your digital dollars wallet on their website, you can input your landlord’s email and the amount you wish to send them for your rent. However, your landlord will need to create or connect their wallet to the platform to receive the money.

            • bc93@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              Now you’ve shifted to “not common”.

              The opening line of my comment literally reads:

              Money refers to some token which is commonly accepted as a form of payment

                • bc93@lemmy.world
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                  5 months ago

                  It’s not though - I can’t pay for my rent with it. And I can’t really buy any physical property with it. Just because someone somewhere did do that, it doesn’t mean I can. I don’t have any cryptocurrency so I can’t actually buy anything with it. Checkmate.

                  • Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world
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                    5 months ago

                    I can’t pay for my rent with it.

                    I linked to an app service created specifically to pay rent with crypto.

                    And I can’t really buy any physical property with it.

                    You can really buy physical property with crypto. I gave you examples.

                    Just because someone somewhere did do that, it doesn’t mean I can.

                    Yes you can. All you need is the crypto.

                    I don’t have any cryptocurrency so I can’t actually buy anything with it.

                    What?

                    I don’t have any Japanese Yen so I can’t actually buy anything with it. Therefore Japanese Yen is useless?!?

                    No

                    Checkmate.

                    OK. I’m playing chess with a pigeon.

    • s_s@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      If you’re “invested” in cryptogoboligook and you’re not ripping someone off–guess what?–you’re the mark.

      Regardless, you can generally use money to buy things.

      You can’t buy anything with crypto because it’s 15 years later, and “mass adoption” is never happening. It’s “fake money”.

        • Pratai@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          The only ones that treat it as money are in on it. Otherwise, you could go to a Best Buy and get a TV with your crypto-card.

          • KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            5 months ago

            I hate to be “that guy” but your definition of money is a little constrained. By that definition, the only “money” is the money of the country you’re currently in. Can you walk into a bestbuy and purchase a TV with Yuan?

            You’re likely trying to say “Can you walk into a normal store of an appropriate country and pay with that currency” but even that is flawed, as certain stores don’t accept credit/debit, or don’t accept cash.

              • KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                5 months ago

                You literally quoted an article about the US…. Which is again an issue. The Canadian dollar is not legal tender in the US.

                There are also countries where the “legal tender” is useless. Take Zig, which is the recently mandated legal tender of Zimbabwe, which is so scarce that it’s impossible to trade in, leading people to fall back to the (by your definition) fake currency of the US Dollar.

                • Pratai@lemmy.world
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                  5 months ago

                  I don’t really care what is legal tender in places I will never live. If I visit, I will convert my money to the local currency as needed. Bitcoin however, is NOT going to be among them.

                  Because it’s not money. It has value, but it is not money.

                  • KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                    5 months ago

                    Lmao this is so weird. You’re talking about how the only real money is legal tender, but then you go off about how you don’t care what legal tender is anywhere other than the US.

                    I mean, good for you. No one is trying to force Bitcoin down your throat any more than they are the Zig. But using the US definition of what is considered legal tender isn’t the vehicle you seem to think it is.

              • uis@lemm.ee
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                5 months ago

                Dollar isn’t legal tender either. Everyone wants something called “рубль”.

                  • uis@lemm.ee
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                    5 months ago

                    Already

                    "Статья 27. Официальной денежной единицей (валютой) Российской Федерации является рубль. Один рубль состоит из 100 копеек.

                    Введение на территории Российской Федерации других денежных единиц и выпуск денежных суррогатов запрещаются."

            • Pratai@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              No, because it’s not legal currency. Are you getting it now?? Valuables aren’t all accepted currency….

              Your argument is DEEPLY flawed.

                  • uis@lemm.ee
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                    5 months ago

                    Can you walk into store and buy a TV with British Pound?

            • Pratai@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              And what does that tell you? That maybe those things aren’t legal currency??

              • uis@lemm.ee
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                5 months ago

                Then US Dollar isn’t legal currency everywhere outside of USSA. You can’t just go to shop and buy groceries with it.

                • Pratai@lemmy.world
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                  5 months ago

                  It’s exchangeable. Go to a money exchange and see how much your bitcoin is worth.

                • Pratai@lemmy.world
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                  5 months ago

                  No goalpost has been moved. Currency is clearly defined. So whatever other valuable item you try and offer up as an example will be dismissed as well.

                  • Victoria Antoinette @lemmy.world
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                    5 months ago

                    we were discussing money. it’s not narrowly defined by what the US government decrees. it’s a universal phenomenon across all cultures that predates even written records. do you accept barley corn as payment? the answer doesn’t matter because people have used it as money regardless.

        • s_s@lemm.ee
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          5 months ago

          People certainly don’t treat crypto like money.

          And I suppose that’s where our conversation has to stop because you’ve now outed yourself as willing to say any outlandish thing to support crypto.

          Because I do not believe you can actually think that.

        • oatscoop@midwest.social
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          5 months ago

          Crypto is an un-backed and unregulated security – the value of which fluctuates wildly. Turns out most people don’t like being paid in something that can drastically lose value in the span of hours.

          The few people and institutions that accept crypto as payment either immediately convert it back into real money or are “investors” treating it like the security it actually is.

            • oatscoop@midwest.social
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              5 months ago

              “unbacked”

              I’m assuming those quotes are referring to fiat currency. Faith in the solvency of the issuing government, widely agreed upon exchange rates, and regulated prices of goods are all forms of backing. Sure: you can argue that’s “not enough” but crypto “currencies” don’t even have that. Hence why their values fluctuate by the minute – which defeats the entire purpose of “money”.

              unregulated

              … government controlled central banks and entire bodies of law exist to do just that. Nobody is regulating crypto.

              Crypto lacks the features that make money “money”. It doesn’t have a relatively stable, agreed upon value. It’s not easily exchanged for goods or services. It technically can be used as “money” but that’s true of anything – trading cards, a pile of gravel, etc.

    • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
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      5 months ago

      With real money you can take out a loan. Kinda the whole point of money, it represents value that is owed.

      While crypto loans would be technically possible it would be a foolish thing to do since it’s effectively a short on something that could increase in value. Real money has a small but steady (well, ideally) inflation so you can be confident in taking out a loan and not having to worry about the currency doing something crazy like doubling in value resulting in you owing double the value than you initially borrowed. This is not the case for crypto so it’s simply not a viable currency for financing anything.

      Since it’s not viable for financing, it’s not a real currency and never will be. Like is someone supposed to take out a business loan in real currency, convert it to crypto, pay someone else who would then have to convert it back to real money so they can pay back their loan? Why would people want to do all of these conversions back and forth to and from crypto? Because they like the risk of the value dropping for the brief time they’re holding onto it?

    • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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      5 months ago

      Regardless of your personal opinions about cryptocurrency, that is absolutely what this post is referring to by saying fake money for criminal.